OpenXChange is pleased to announce its first Open Office Hours program with the first in the series of six exploring climate change in a panel discussion format. Our panel of experts will discuss a range of strategies for responding to climate change, including approaches such as divestment from fossil fuels, investment in alternative energy, environmental justice, and policies such as carbon fees or markets. Open Office Hours: Responding to Climate Change will provide students with the opportunity to hear from and actively engage with experts from inside and outside the Stanford faculty on the issue of climate change in our world. OpenXChange’s Open Office Hours: Responding to Climate Change is co-sponsored by the Stanford School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences; Precourt Institute for Energy; Stanford Law School; and Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education.

The event will take place in Jordan Hall, Building 420, Room 40, on Nov. 19 from 4-5:30 pm. A reception will follow from 5:30-6 pm.

The event precedes a special film screening of “Time to Choose” in Cemex Auditorium at 6:45 pm.
Event Moderator
Pamela Matson, Chester Naramore Dean of the School of Earth Sciences, Richard and Rhoda Goldman Professor in Environmental Studies and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute
A MacArthur Fellow and elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, Matson has served as dean of the School of Earth Sciences at Stanford since 2002. She has led the School through significant change, targeted at helping improve the University’s ability to engage in use- inspired research and to educate future leaders in the sustainability challenges related to Earth resources, hazards and environment. During the same time period, Matson co-led the Stanford Challenge Initiative on Environment and Sustainability, and helped build the Woods Institute for the Environment and the Precourt Institute for Energy as well as the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources.

Event Panelists
Larry Goulder, Shuzo Nishihara Professor in Environmental and Resource Economics and Senior Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy and at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research
Professor Goulder’s research covers a range of environmental issues, including green tax reform, the design of cap-and-trade systems, climate change policy, and comprehensive wealth measurement (“green” accounting). He has served as co-editor of the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management and on several advisory committees to the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Science Advisory Board and the California Air Resources Board. His work often employs a general equilibrium analytical framework that integrates the economy and the environment and links the activities of government, industry, and households. The research considers both the aggregate benefits and costs of various policies as well as the distribution of policy impacts across industries, income groups, and generations. Some of his work involves collaborations with climatologists and biologists.

Alicia Seiger, Deputy Director, Steyer Taylor Center For Energy Policy & Finance
As Deputy Director, Alicia manages the Steyer Taylor Center’s research, programming, operations, and market engagement. Alicia also leads the center’s work to identify innovative solutions for philanthropic and long-term investors to fill critical financing gaps on the path to scaling up investment in clean energy. A serial entrepreneur and pioneer of new business models, Alicia was at the forefront of the web advertising and carbon offset industries before pursuing solutions in the rapidly evolving area of climate finance. Alicia has spent over a decade designing and executing climate and energy programs for businesses, foundations, investors, and NGOs. She has served on the management teams of multiple startups, including at TerraPass, a pioneer of the US carbon offset market, and Flycast Communications, one of the first web advertising networks. She holds a MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she also served as a case writer for the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, and a BA in Environmental Policy and Cultural Anthropology from Duke University.

Katharine J. Mach, Senior Research Associate, Carnegie Science’s Department of Global Ecology
Katharine Mach’s research is generating new possibilities for assessment of the risks of climate change, to empower decisions and actions in a changing climate. For the past five years, Dr. Mach directed the scientific activities of Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which focuses on impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. This work culminated in the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report and its Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation. These reports advanced new methods of climate risk assessment and treatment of uncertainties. Dr. Mach’s past research interests include biomechanical investigations of the impacts of climate change for ocean ecosystems. She received her PhD in Biological Sciences from Stanford University and AB in Biology (summa cum laude) from Harvard College.

Michelle Wilde Anderson, Professor of Law, Stanford Law School
Michelle Wilde Anderson is a public law scholar and practitioner focused on state and local government, including urban policy, city planning, local democracy, and public finance. Her work combines legal analysis with the details of human experience to understand the local governance of high poverty areas, both urban and rural, and the legal causes of concentrated poverty and fiscal crisis. Her current research explores legal restructuring (such as bankruptcy, disincorporation, and receiverships) for cities and counties in distress—issues that affect not only Rust Belt capitals such as Detroit, but also post-industrial cities in California, rural areas in Oregon, and small towns across the Northeast and South.

Arun Majumdar, Jay Precourt Professor in the Stanford University Department of Mechanical Engineering and Co-Director of the Precourt Institute for Energy
Arun Majumdar is the Jay Precourt Professor at Stanford University, where he serves on the faculty of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and is a director of the Precourt Institute for Energy. His research in the past has involved the science and engineering of nanoscale materials and devices, especially in the areas of energy conversion, transport and storage as well as biomolecular analysis. His current research focuses on converting nuclear radiation directly into electrical power, using electrochemical reactions for thermal energy conversion, understanding the limits of heat transport in nanostructured materials, and a new effort to re-engineer the electricity grid. Prior to joining Stanford, he was the Vice President for Energy at Google, where he created several energy technology initiatives, especially on the electricity grid, and advised the company on its broader energy strategy.

RELATED COURSES & RESOURCES
Earth 2: Climate and Society (3 units): This course provides an introduction to the natural science and social science of climate change. The focus is on what science tells us about the causes, consequences, and solutions to climate change, as well as on how scientific progress is made on these issues.

ADDITIONAL INTRODUCTORY COURSES FOR UNDERGRADUATES

As a public service ISciences publishes background briefings about Conferences of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and related events. The most recent presentation, Road to Paris COP21, is available in both pdf and PowerPoint® slideshow formats at http://www.isciences.com/cop21.

Illustration by Emily Giglio